Mike Nadel: The bigger the stage, the bigger Illinois' McCamey plays

The catchy-but-accurate nickname Demetri McCamey needs is as obvious as the opponent on the floor: "Big Time."

Mike Nadel

The catchy-but-accurate nickname Demetri McCamey needs is as obvious as the opponent on the floor: "Big Time."

Apparently, McCamey is easily bored. How else to explain his going-through-the-motions performances against the Hawaiis, Jackson States and Detroits that populate Illinois' non-conference schedule?

But give him a showcase -- a game against a major-conference team, preferably televised on one of the 412 ESPN networks -- and Big Time comes through, well, big time.

Tuesday night, McCamey stepped in from a classic Midwest ice storm -- it was so bad, the Illinois band didn't arrive until 15 minutes after tip-off -- and immediately burned Missouri to a crisp. The Fighting Illini won 75-59, earning Braggin' Rights for the ninth consecutive year and running their record to an unexpected 11-1.

The sophomore point guard personally outscored the Tigers 13-9 in the opening 8 minutes as the Illini surged to a double-digit lead, and Missouri never recovered. He finished with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting and hit four 3-pointers, including a crazy, one-handed push to beat the shot clock.

Check out this trend: McCamey averaged 20.5 points on 55 percent shooting against the four BCS-conference schools (Missouri, Georgia, Clemson, Vanderbilt) on Illinois' early schedule. In the other eight games, he averaged 9.3 points on 39 percent shooting. Big Time hit 45 percent of his 3-pointers against big-time competition, 22 percent against the others.

The day-and-night performances exasperate his coach. Bruce Weber even benched McCamey for most of the second half of the previous game against Detroit.

"Maybe I need to put him in my doghouse every week," a laughing Weber said Tuesday. "I wish he'd be more consistent without me threatening him and sitting him.

"I think he decides things ahead of time: 'Aw, this isn't gonna be a tough game or I don't have a tough matchup.' And he just doesn't get ready and focused to play. Obviously, this one's a big one and he knows it."

Yep, another big one for Big Time.

Bad news for the Illini: They wrap up their non-conference schedule Sunday at home against Eastern Michigan. Knowing McCamey's history, perhaps the Eagles will ignore him and double-team Chester Frazier.

Good news for Illinois: According to sources stretching from Happy Valley to the Twin Cities, every Big Ten team also is a BCS team. (Yes, even Northwestern.)

Maybe McCamey will rank among the league's leading scorers and the Illini will be the conference's surprise team. I wouldn't predict as much, but I also didn't predict that a young Purdue squad would come out of nowhere last season.

It would be nice if McCamey at least played consistently well enough to stay out of Weber's doghouse.

"Aw, everybody goes in and out of his doghouse," McCamey said. "Especially good players. He wants you to be the best player you can be, and he's gonna push you hard."

McCamey insists that he doesn't decide to play better before the biggest games, saying: "All I'm thinking is, 'Get a W and do whatever my team needs me to do.'"

OK, but the statistical evidence is hard to ignore -- and it goes back to his freshman year.

As is the case with most first-year collegians, McCamey was having a spotty season. Then came the emotion-charged, double-overtime loss to Indiana on Feb. 7, when he outscored infamous Illini-spurner Eric Gordon 31-19. Two weeks later, he scored 18 against perennial Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin. And in the conference tournament, he helped save an otherwise lost season for the Illini by carrying them to the title game.

"When he gets going, it's unbelievable; you just sit back and watch," fellow sophomore Mike Tisdale said. "He's like one of those great NBA players who takes over a game.

"Once he realizes he needs to play like that all the time, look out."

So how about it, Demetri? Does "Big Time" work for you?

"It's not bad," he said. "Demetri, Big Time, D-Mac, Meechi ... it really doesn't matter as long as we win games and Illinois is happy and we get to that next level and maybe to the (NCAA) tournament and take things from there."

Illinois in the NCAAs and Big Time McCamey on the biggest stage of all. Wouldn't that be a kick?